Malaysian top news headlines

Sophia Loren, an Italian Beauty and a sex symbol in her era.Her name was mentioned by everybody throughout the world.
Her famous quote:
“Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.” – Sohpia Loren

Something about Sophia Loren:

Sophia Loren was one of Italy’s great 20th-century sex symbols. She hit it big in the movies in 1950s, thanks especially to film producer Carlo Ponti (whom she married in 1957). In 1961 she won an Oscar for the Italian wartime drama Two Women (La Ciociara). In addition to her va-va-voom image, Loren has always been a respected actress; in 1991 she won an honorary Oscar in recognition of her full body of work. Her films include The Pride and the Passion (1957, with Frank Sinatra), It Started in Naples (1960, with Clark Gable) and El Cid (1961, with Charlton Heston and based on the life of Spanish legend El Cid).

Family members and the public will have to wait for at least a fortnight before eight suspects detained in connection with the brutal murder of millionaire businesswoman Sosilawati Lawiya and three others are charged in the court.

Sources close to the investigation and prosecution teams revealed that thus far only the mystery of the murder victims’ disapperance has been answered.

Now it’s all about gathering evidence, drafting the charges and successfully prosecuting the case.

“The most difficult part is ensuring justice is meted out fairly, not only to the victims’ families but also to the suspects arrested in connection with the case,” a source said.

The prosecution, he said, had narrowed down eight suspects to two groups, with the first group likely to be charged under Section 302 and 304 (a) or 304 (b) of the Penanl Code for murder and manslaughter.

A 41-year-old lawyer and his younger brother have been identified as the main suspects.

Two others are likely to face charges under Section 302 which carries the mandatory death sentence, while the rest might face lesser charges.

“More than one person were directly involved in the murders and we need to be very careful and thorough in drafting the charges so that no one walks free at the end of the prosecution’s case.

“We should akso respect the fundamental rights of an individual as provided for in our justice system, where a suspect is presumed innocent until proven otherwise.

“We are not going give in to any sort of public pressure,” said a police officer close to the investigation team.

On Sept 12, Bukit Aman CID director Mohd Bakri Zinin confirmed that four suspects, including a woman, aged between 19 and 54, had confessed to the killing of Sosilawati, 47, her driver Kamaruddin Shansudin, 44, a CIMB branch officer Noorhisham Mohammad, 38, and lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32.

Air-tight case

Asked why the delay in charging the suspects, a source close to the prosecution said chemistry and DNA reports are very critical in completing the investigation papers.

“What we have thus far is confessions from the suspects. We need scientific evidence and the law is very clear on this where cautioned statetments alone are not enough to get a conviction,” the officer added.

He said that in the past, in several high-profile cases, suspects walked free merely on technical grounds.
“This case is an extraordinary one where they had killed four people at one go and also confessed to killing several others.

“We need to probe further to build an air-tight case. We can’t do that without forensic evidence, which is a key element of our justice system,” added the officer.

He said it would take at least another a week before police could obtain all the vital information from the relevant departments.

Meanwhile, the men currently detained at the Dang Wangi district police station are expected to be handed over to the Kuala Langat (Banting) district police where several missing persons’ reports have been lodged against the suspects.

In a related development, police obtained a week’s extension of the remand order to facilitate their investigations against the prime suspect and four others.

Police are expected to obtain a similar order against three other suspects tomorrow.

courtesy of FMT

By K Pragalath

COMMENT Malaysia is 47 years old through the unification of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore in 1963. (Singapore was separated from Malaysia in 1965.)

The Kuala Lumpur-Kota Kinabalu-Kuching relationship must be relooked because of the imbalance between the centre and the periphery.

Most importantly, the 20-Point Agreement has been largely ignored in making the Malaysia that we have today.

Initial attempts by Sabah first chief minister Fuad Stephens to do so resulted in him being made Australian High Commissioner.

As a result, there were regressions from Sabah’s 20-Point Agreement and Sarawak’s 18-Point Agreement as seen in the “Allah” controversy and the ban on the Malay language Bible.

Both agreements on religion state that there should be no state religion for Sabah and Sarawak.

The “Borneonisation” of the public service as agreed to in the deal has also been violated. Over the years, more public servants from the peninsula were transferred to Sabah to fill in the void.

What development?

Unfortunately, an ignorant Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Rahim Bakri recently stated that Sabahans in the interiors should be grateful as Sabah’s inclusion in Malaysia had ensured development in the state.

Using development as a bait is wrong because “development is the one term most used by politicians to cheat the people” (quoted from a Malayalam movie).

If development had indeed been provided, why is the road network in both states still bad? My brethren from both Sabah and Sarawak can attest to the fact that Sabah and Sarawak are two decades backwards compared to Peninsular Malaysia.

What development is Rahim speaking about when my brethren over there are still having difficulties to complete 11 years of education?

Contrary to Rahim’s statement, Kuala Lumpur has gained more than Kuching and Kota Kinabalu in the 47-year-old relationship.

The most recent evidence was Barisan Nasional’s slim majority in the 2008 general election, which was only made possible because of the safe deposit votes from Sabah and Sarawak.

In addition, the Mahathir administration should be “thanked” for initiating the IC project that created BN voters out of illegal immigrants from Indonesia and the Philippines

To address the imbalance, more autonomy should be accorded to Sabah and Sarawak. It can be initiated by increasing the petroleum royalty from the current 5% to 20%.

Secession by both Sabah and Sarawak is out of the question as it violates the agreement

K Pragalath is a former journalist. Courtesy of FMT

“How can we investigate any misconduct if no report is made? If it is true, then why should the public be scared to make a report?” : Selangor CPO Khalid Abu Bakar, addressing allegations of misconduct by police personnel in Selangor, as reported in Malaysiakini.

Khalid was further reported as saying that “The public should not fear to inform the authorities about police misconduct… if they are still scared, then they should communicate directly with me”, and went on to suggest that such information could be channeled to him through his Facebook account.

Khalid, it seems to me, is confused.

Is a police report needed before a matter can be investigated?

Now, RPK reminded us in a post a few days ago that the complaint, on 28th August, last year, by ASP Noor Azizul Rahim Bin Taharim, the ADC (aide-de-camp) of finally – retired IGP Musa Hassan, contained in a statutory declaration and alleging many criminal acts by Musa appears to have been NFA’d ( no further action ) by the police.

RPK’s post and the statutory declaration can be read HERE.

Based on RPK’s posting, it appears that Noor Azizul had sent a copy of his statutory declaration to Dr M who, in turn, passed the same on to former IGP Tun Haniff Omar.

In essence, Noor Azizul has made two very serious allegations in his statutory declaration against Musa.

One, that Musa had inappropriate connections with underworld figures, and that these connections extended to a particular underworld figure making decisions on the promotion, posting and ranking of officers in PDRM.

Two, that Musa had directed a covert operation involving the creation of a blog through which false allegations of corruption were made against then deputy minister of Home Security, Johari Baharom.

RPK says that none of these allegations against Musa were ever investigated.

If RPK is wrong and an investigation had been conducted, someone would have had to be charged.

Either Musa, for being implicated in the matters alleged, if found to be true, or Noor Azizul, for swearing out a false statutory declaration, if an investigation had cleared Musa of the charges.

Neither were charged, thereby suggesting that RPK is right in that this matter was never investigated.

Why?

RPK’s post does not mention any police report being lodged with regard to the matters raised in Noor Azizul’z statutory declaration.

Might that be the official PDRM reason, if an explanation was now sought for not investigating this matter, given CPO Khalid’s poser : How can we investigate any misconduct if no report is made?

Does this now mean that either Musa or Noor Azizul have gotten off scot-free, because someone in PDRM directed that no further action be taken?

Yesterday, brand new IGP Tan Sri Ismail Omar was reported in the Star as saying :“I want all police officers and those in the rank and file to discharge their duties according to the law to upkeep the image of policing” .

All talk?

Test him?

How to investigate if no police report is made, did CPO Khalid say?

Shall we oblige with reports from Kedah in the north through to JB in the south, and in Kuching and Kota Kinabalu,just so our new IGP understands just how seriously we treat this matter and that the image of PDRM under his watch is at stake?

I’d like to hear from you.

courtesy of the People’s Parliament

A more insincere and hypocritical load of rubbish would be difficult to imagine, especially coming as it did from the man who confessed, so I was reminded, at the Anwar Ibrahim show trial some years ago that he would not hesitate to tell a lie if ordered to do so by his superiors.

Tunku Abdul Aziz, My Sinchew

I squirmed. All of a sudden a wave of nausea of tsunami proportions swept over me as I munched my buttered toast while reading a news report in the NST (9 September 2010) that IGP Musa Hassan’s parting wish was that Ismail Omar, his deceptively docile successor, would “emulate him in bringing about changes to the force and lifting its integrity.”

My breakfast to which I had looked forward with great anticipation came to an abrupt end; it became quite unpalatable and totally indigestible.

A more insincere and hypocritical load of rubbish would be difficult to imagine, especially coming as it did from the man who confessed, so I was reminded, at the Anwar Ibrahim show trial some years ago that he would not hesitate to tell a lie if ordered to do so by his superiors.

We deserved, I suppose, to have Musa set loose among us, the unsuspecting long suffering public, as the country’s Inspector-General of Police because we have done nothing, or very little, to stop the general rot in our country.

For Musa, his promotion to the post of IGP was a well-deserved reward for his “turning” operations and for being economical with the truth.

Musa was denounced as an unreliable witness in a Sabah law court, a euphemism, if there ever was one, for a hostile witness.

In truth, we must not be too hard on the poor man because it is quite possible that “truth” was not in the lexicon of ethics as far as he was concerned.

I thought it odd, to say the least, that he who was literally shown the door had the gall to ask his successor to “emulate” him. Did he really believe that he was worthy of emulation?

I should think it the height of arrogance for me, for example, if I were to suggest that anyone should emulate me. Why should they?

People emulate you because there is something in you, or about you, that they admire. Emulation is not product money can buy, unlike bare faced flattery or lies which seem to get you everywhere.

It is, I suppose, the measure of the man’s limited grasp of life’s vicissitudes that he continued to harbour the delusion until the end, in spite of the open contempt and disdain shown by the general public during his stewardship of the PDRM, that he was about to make a triumphant exit under a decorated arch with flags and pennants fluttering in the breeze and trumpets blaring.

There is, of course, no accounting for one’s pattern of behaviour in response to particular circumstances.

Musa would never in a thousand years admit that he had left a force that is hopelessly demoralised. Ismail Omar has inherited a broken down institution that needs strong, principled and visionary leadership. Ismail Omar’s will be a thankless job. He must quickly wipe out all the negative traces of the Musa years if confidence in the PDRM is to have a ghost of a chance of being restored.

The Government that spent millions to set up the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police in 2004 must take charge and have all the 125 recommendations implemented.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as prime minister not only, in the opinion of the overwhelming majority of Malaysians, slept on the job but also showed no inclination even in rare moments of wakefulness to deal effectively with Musa who, in rejecting the IPCMC (Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission), declared that if the IPCMC was forced on the police, they would to a man revolt.

It was a threat of the most virulent and seditious nature and yet Abdullah Badawi took it all lying down, no pun intended, as if the threat to revolt against an elected government, however the election was conducted, was a normal part of police practice and response in the circumstances.

This naturally led, not surprisingly, to aspersions being cast on Badawi’s integrity. There were suggestions doing the rounds that there was a series of complicated connections that bonded Abdullah Badawi and Musa Hassan. According to many, it was an uneasy close relationship based on mutual survival, bordering on the criminal.

The IPCMC is central to the process of transforming the police force into the police service in which the focus is on service in the public interest rather than concentrating solely on the Police Act. This is a vital mechanism for ensuring that members of the public are protected from police brutality and human rights abuse. On the other side of the coin, the police too will be protected against unfair allegations of illegal acts.

The IPCMC if properly constituted will bring about a change in public/police relations which have broken down almost beyond repair.

It is not often realised and appreciated that the police work under great pressure and are exposed to great danger, and tend to forget that they are no more than civilians in uniform sworn to protect life and property. They must operate within the law. The police, from experience in many developed countries, need to be protected against themselves and this is where a mechanism such as the IPCMC is vitally important for the development of fair and honourable relations between the police and members of the public.

The government must put in train without delay the implementation of the IPCMC to bring PDRM in line with universally proven best policing practice as part of its much touted governance reform programme. For once, do not let the tail wag the dog as Badawi did to the detriment of effective policing in a multi-racial environment.

Tunku Abdul Aziz was a member of the 2004 Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police.

After 53 years of achieving independence Indians in Malaysia have remained permanently colonised by the UMNO Government. My forefathers were part of that great day on 31st August 1957.

My people equally celebrated the day Malaysia was born, 16 Sept 1963, and through Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak as well. We had hope. We hoped to build a new generation and society in the new nation.

Alas, we were played out right from the beginning by Tunku Abdul Rahman, followed by his successors.

One of the major concession for the non-Malays in Peninsular Malaysia agreeing to Article 153 was the granting of citizenship to all Malaysians born after Merdeka and the existing non-Malays who pledged their allegiance to Malaya be given citizenship.

Never did our forefathers dream that we would be re colonised by the UMNO led government. Today, an estimated of 450,000 Malaysian Indians are stateless. This includes an estimated 150,000 stateless children. Pardon me, these are estimates and the Government would most certainly refute these estimates. But they know the problem is real and exists.

Our forefathers bought the story of Tunku and Razak that by virtue of Article 8 and the second limb of Article 153 that the rights of the non-Malays would be protected as well. That Article 153 would be revisited after 15 years. Even the Conference of Malay Rulers provided guarantees to the British that after 15 years the non-Malays would be treated equally as citizens of this country. I sincerely belief the May 1969 riot was engineered by UMNO to divert from their promises to revisit Article 153.

Little did our forefathers realise that we were falling into the trap of a neo-colonialist UMNO.

UMNO took the role of the colonial masters and managed the country by a mandore system “employing” political parties, MCA and MIC as mandores to fulfil their racist, supremacist Malay agenda of Ketuanan Melayu.

Ketuanan Melayu is an insidious ideology, which was first planted by Malaysia’s founding father, Tunku Abdul Rahman, and further honed by his successors. The Hidden Agenda appears to be to enable the ruling elite to indulge in abuse of power and exercise absolute power to embark on runaway corruption at the expense of the nation.

The MCA and MIC leaders were dished out privileges, perks and positions in Government. They were used as a front – window-dressing and tokenism — to portray to the world at large that Malaysia is a truly multi-racial country where power-sharing among the races has created the success story of a new nation.

In turn these mandore political parties divert and indoctrinate their people to believe that they have been given an opportunity in this country for which they are grateful to their tuans (masters) UMNO.

On the other hand, UMNO portrays their political rival PAS as an extremist Muslim party which would turn the country into an Islamic state and therefore it was in the best interest of the Chinese and Indians to swear allegiance to them rather than run the risk of being converted by the sword, so to speak.

And so the Indians and Chinese were enslaved by UMNO, their new masters.

The Chinese controlled the economy and were the tax payers in the majority while the Indians were the backbone to the main export industry to the new nation Malaysia in the plantation industry. The Indians were cheap labourers to man the plantations, build roads and railway tracks (as well as maintaining them). The revenue that was contributed by the Chinese and Indians were usurped by UMNO in the name of Ketuanan Melayu. We were the hambas (slaves) of UMNO, the new tuans.

So are we people of a nation that had achieved independence?

UMNO refused to provide citizenships to tens of thousands of Indians particularly those who lived deep in the plantation areas. In those days driving out 10 miles away from KL means you were going into deep jungle into the wild and here and in other states hundreds of thousands of Indians served their new nation as plantation workers.

The country underwent rapid development from about 1970 onwards and plantation estates were gradually acquired by the Government in the name of development.

In a study conducted by the Centre for Public Policy Studies, an estimated 300,000 plantation workers were uprooted from their established plantation background between 1975-1995 and were displaced. In my meetings with United Nations officials in 2008 they confirmed that I could use the term “internally displaced people” (IDP).

These Internally displaced plantation workers were not given compensation, training opportunities, housing ect and they became the new urban poor and underclass who were neglected by the UMNO tuans.

Compare these loyal workers who contributed to this nation for almost 200 years and the felda LBJ in Negeri sembilan who were equally displaced. The Felda settlers were compensated up to RM3.5 million per family for a contribution of almost 30 years. It is plainly obvious the Indian workers were simply driven out of the estates and were no longer needed as they have been “sucked” for more than 200 years. The Government knew they had a responsibility for these people but deliberately ignored them. When these ex-plantation workers were ejected from the estates most did not have their citizenships and till date have remained so. Many are 4th and 5th generation Malaysians but are not recognised, not only as Malaysians but as HUMAN BEINGS.

They do not have birth certificates so they can never enrol their children (who in turn are denied BC’s) in schools (now urban areas). The child is denied education. He or she can never avail himself to a decent job. Even if he finds a job, there are no Socso or EPF contributions and he is paid even worse that the Bangladeshi worker. He can never obtain treatment in a government hospital. He can never get married legally. He can never obtain a motorcycle licence or any driving licence that would yield an income. Bank accounts are out of the question. Bidding or even purchasing a rumah murah (low cost house) is out of the question.

His offspring’s are equally denied birth certificates because he is not deemed a human being (non-existent) in Malaysia and he does not exist. His family does not exist under the Malaysian system engineered by the UMNO tuans.

They are the invisible people of Malaysia. You know them, you see them, but they don’t exist. I would dare say this is amongst the greatest evil acts committed by UMNO. I would go further to say this is a brand of ethnic cleansing which is best defined before international tribunals. The seed of Projek Ketuanan Melayu planted by Tunku 53 years ago has now blossomed into almost ½ million stateless/invisible people.

It is difficult to comprehend why these Indians are blatantly oppressed by UMNO when in this modern age and time even cats and dogs have birth certificates.

This is nothing but stripping the dignity out of these people. Their marriage are not recognised, their children anak harams (illegitimate children). They don’t exist!!.

Thanks to UMNO’s PROJEK KETUANAN MELAYU.

And they have the audacity to say they are managing a fair Government.

For the first time in the country’s history, in 2010, Malaysians heard of a good number of demonstrations by Indians who were denied places in public universities. These were no ordinary students. They are the top scoring students in SPM who had 10-12 A’s.

Hindraf Makkal Sakthi organised various demonstrations and press conferences to highlight the plight of these students. These were the sons and daughters of the working class downtrodden Indians. These children were grilled by their poor parents that only through education that they would be able to come out of the shell of poverty and excel in life.

Many students were in tears in these press conferences that their fellow Malay colleagues with 2A’s were offered scholarships into matriculations and universities. It is not that they are jealous of these Malay students but they can never understand why the Government segregates them based on their race. If these top most deserving students are denied opportunities what more the equally good students with 5A’s.

Isn’t this not striping away their dignity? UMNO have killed the ambitions of these young children of the country who would have been the cream of the country. Isn’t this not telling them, hey you can be good but I don’t need you because I am the tuan and you are the slave. The son of a slave does not deserve to pursue equal educational opportunities. We the tuans decide what is best for you.

Let us now look at the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak. They too were promised by UMNO with equal opportunities and the “bumiputera” status. They were through manipulation brought into the Federation in September 1963. Both states are rich in oil and natural resources.

UMNO extended their Ketuanan Melayu to both these states. Just like MIC and MCA they created mandore leaders in these states and re-colonised Borneo. The natives were now slaves of their new tuans – UMNO. With such rich natural resources they live in the poorest 2 states in the Malaysian Federation.

To maintain the status quo, the Muslim natives are indoctrinated with Muslim brotherhood sentiments and divisions created by UMNO.

Fear is instilled that if they do not unite and stand with UMNO, the Christians would rule Borneo and eventually secede from Malaysia and declare Borneo Christian states. Now, even these local Muslims have been disenfranchised in Sabah by the entry of illegal Muslim immigrants who are entering the electoral rolls with MyKads issued via the backdoor.

My conclusion is UMNO and its leaders right from Tunku to Najib are master manipulators and neo colonialists.

We the Indians, Chinese, Dayak, Dusuns, Muruts, Bajau, Suluk and others are never independent nor would we ever enjoy the true fruits of being independent in a truly independent country which has respect for the Rule of Law, practices equality and Freedom of Religion, among others.

In 2007, I said the Malaysian Indians are a permanently colonised community.

I now say we the non-Malays will forever be slaves of these neo colonialists UMNO tuans.

But will a change of Government bring about true independence?

I doubt it because they are not ready for a truly Merdeka (independent) society.

Selamat Hari Malaysia.
P. Waytha Moorthy

Who would forget the “shit, shit, shit” Al-Jazeera interview? In full view of international audience, Perkasa’s real ugly, uncouth, unrefined and even uncivilised nature reveal itself. It is comical. And it is tragic. It is tragic because the international community may think – and I am sure they do think – that Malaysians in general are as uncouth as these Perkasa creatures. And that my friends, is a insult to Malaysia and to all Malaysians.

By Art Harun

I refer to a post at Rocky’s Bru titled “The irrational fear of Perkasa”.

Perkasa.

What does that name evoke? Fear? Unlikely.

To me and many others, that name is almost comical and tragic at the same time, quite in the same mould as Roberto Benigni’s “Life is beautiful,” only that the later was poignant and sorrowful, rather than tragic.

Perkasa is comical in the way it – through its leader, Dato’ Ibrahim Ali and its various extras whose names I do not even care to remember – went around calling people who do not agree with its views names. YB Khairy Jamaludin knows about this well. Minister Nazri also knows about this very well.

Whenever Perkasa’s views are opposed or critisised, Perkasa has been unable to counter such oppositions or critics. When Perkasa cannot rebut another’s opinion, what would it do? Yes. It will attack the person who expresses the opinion rather than the opinion itself.

And so, Khairy Jamaludin was a “stupid”, “crazy”, “feeble-minded” and a “confused child”. according to Dato’ Ibrahim Ali. And not to mention, also “mentally ill.”

Just look at one full sentence by Dato’ Ibrahim Ali about YB Khairy:-

“This is the talk of a stupid, brainless person. He is talking like a crazy person.” (source is here.)

Then, who would forget the “shit, shit, shit” Al-Jazeera interview? In full view of international audience, Perkasa’s real ugly, uncouth, unrefined and even uncivilised nature reveal itself. It is comical.

And it is tragic. It is tragic because the international community may think – and I am sure they do think – that Malaysians in general are as uncouth as these Perkasa creatures. And that my friends, is a insult to Malaysia and to all Malaysians.

It is also an insult to the Prime Minister, because as I am told, the Prime Minister has a voracious appetite for knowledge and is an avid reader. And what an insult would be to the Prime Minister if the international community thinks that Malaysians are generally uncouth because of that Al-Jazeera interview with Dato’ Ibrahim Ali.

Ah, let’s not forget about all the police report.

That Perkasa is only able to shout and scream slogans and misleading statements about rights which do not exist is exemplified by its inability to accept YB Nurul Izaah’s polite, but firm, invitation to debate on the purview of Article 153 of the Federal Constitution.

Perkasa’s response – and no less than Minister Sharizat’s response (I am addressing her as a Minister in a loose sense) – to YB Nurul Izzah’s clear articulation on the subject matter was taken right from the 1st line of the 1st Chapter of Dr Mahathir’s guidelines to a discourse, namely, twist and hijack the issue.

This they did by saying YB Nurul Izzah had “challenged” article 153. When in fact she did nothing of that sorts.

By twisting – and thereby, hijacking – the real issue, they hoped to make YB Nurul looked bad. To challenge article 153 would make YB Nurul anti-Malay “rights” and therefore anti-Malay. How convenient.

This tactic has been employed so many times. Ustaz Asri, the former Perlis mufti, of course, is branded as a “Wahabbi” and therefore anti-Islam. Zaid Ibrahim is of course an “alcoholic” and therefore is unfit. Haris Ibrahim is a “liberal-secularist” and therefore he is also anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-whatever.

What YB Nurul was trying to do was to set out the REAL provision of article 153. She never challenged it. To challenge it would mean she was asking that that article ought to be repealed or amended. But she was not doing that.

Since she challenged article 153, according to these real smart people, she has committed an offence. The standard offence nowadays is of course the dreaded “S” offence. No, it’s not sodomy. It is sedition.

And so Perkasa had to lodge a police report against YB Nurul. And then they would take pictures of themselves while holding the police report.

That’s the standard operating procedure.

The new IGP should come down hard on this kind of police report. It wastes the police’s time and the tax payers’ money. The police has many other more important things to do. Like investigating murders, corruptions, breach of trusts, drug trafficking and taking care of the traffic during this festivity. Not to spend time on all these totally moronic police reports.

But then again, that’s Perkasa. Nothing more and nothing less.

And now, YB KJ, Minister Nazri, Minister Khalid and Datuk Tengku Adnan, the secretary general of UMNO have come out to distance UMNO from Perkasa. These are big people. Not some cikus from UMNO. Can we take it then that UMNO now does not want to be associated with – and is not associated with – Perkasa?

I think we can make that conclusion.

Well at least I will make that conclusion, personally.

The Prime Minister wants change. He wants to transform Malaysia and the Malays in general. He wants the Malays to stop being spoon fed and promote meritocracy. Of course he is not doing away with affirmative actions just yet, because he recognises the needs for such actions.

However, I believe the Prime Minister wants to change the way the affirmative actions are being implemented. He wants to introduce a semblance of accountability to it. A certain level of defined methodology which is rooted in meritocracy to it.

But I also believe he is facing a revolt from within his own party about what he wants to do, particularly the was he wants to redefine the affirmative actions and its methodology. Sometime, the perception is, even his own deputy is against him on this.

And of course we have Dr Mahathir Mohamad who is dead against the Prime Minister’s well intent moves. And Perkasa – like Dr Mahathir – is also dead against it. in fact, personally, it is my perception that Perkasa is just echoing Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

No, not echoing. But parroting him. Yes, that’s more apt.

So, it is high time that UMNO, as a party, puts a stop to this insidious counter-movements against its own President, who happens to be our Prime Minister. He needs full support of UMNO for this much needed – if a bit radical to the Malays – change which he intends to introduce. And he also needs support from the BN component parties.

These supports are not forthcoming. MCA is too lame to do anything. MIC is mired in internal problems. AS for the others, I do not even know their names to begin with.

The statements by YB KJ and gang wouldn’t have come at a better time for the Prime Minister.

However, I note with a bit of puzzlement, that no such statement has been forthcoming from the likes of Minister Hishamuddin; Minister Shafie Afdal, the Wanita Wing chief, Minister Rais and other top leaders of UMNO.

And so it makes me wonder what UMNO’s official stand on Perkasa is.

But one thing is clear.

To many, Perkasa is not feared. Let alone irrationally feared.

What is feared is what Perkasa and its ilk represent.

And I don’t think there is any need for me to spell out what they represent.

Umno leaders labelled her father Anwar Ibrahim a traitor to the Malay race, and now the same title has been bestowed on Nurul Izzah.

Adding a royal touch to their rebuke, the Malay right-wing critics labelled her as the “princess of Malay traitors” and filed a police report over a recent article she wrote.

The bone of contention was her interpretation of Article 153 in the Federal Constitution which touches on Malay rights.

According to the Lembah Pantai MP, the Article only referred to the “special position” of the Malays as opposed to “special rights”.

However, Nurul lambasted her critics, especially Perkasa, and stopped short of calling them ignorant for not being able to broach the subject in a rational manner.

Speaking to reporters after filing the report with the Dang Wangi district police headquarters this afternoon, Federation of Malay Students’ Union secretary-general Zambry Mohd Isa had warned the MP not to question the Article.

Also taking a swipe at her was Perkasa leader Armand Azhar Abu Hanifah, who said: “It (Article 153) is not supposed to be discussed outside of Parliament.”

He warned that questioning the Article could spark off tension in the country.

Calling Nurul a fledgling MP, Armand advised her to consult her senior colleagues on what issues should be discussed “before opening her mouth”.

“This is her first term. Perhaps she is not well-versed or is politically immature regarding Article 153,” he said.

Perkasa Wirawati chief Zaira Jaafar, who was also present, cautioned Nurul against “stirring a hornet’s nest”.

“As an MP, she should not say such things,” she said, adding that Nurul was not acting like a Malay.

Nurul: Shameful and pathetic

In an immediate reaction, Nurul had described the police report against her as a “shameful and pathetic” action which justified the prejudice towards groups such as Perkasa.

“There was a reason why I wrote the article in two languages. So that it would not get lost in translation. But obviously these groups did not take the time to read it thoroughly. Their reaction is a testament to their failure in arguing in a rational manner on the issues raised.

“It also shows that our prejudice towards these Malay right-wing groups are justified. I invite you for a debate and this is the way you respond? It is shameful!” she told FMT.

Refusing to be rattled, Nurul vowed to continue her efforts to ensure that ordinary Malays were given access to the truth.

Launching a scathing attack on Perkasa, she said the movement led by Ibrahim Ali did not represent the masses and was drowning the voices of many Malay nationalists with intellectual depth who could argue rationally.

“I don’t think Perkasa even understands what it is fighting for. I don’t think Perkasa understands the plight of the ordinary Malays trapped in poverty.

“I do because I deal with them everyday in Lembah Pantai. It makes me so angry that these hypocrites are politicising the issue to dominate the political landscape and benefit economically,” she said.

“I want my race to progress. I consider myself a progressive Malay. But when I raise important issues essential to progression I am labelled a traitor. This is exactly what happened to my father as well.

“This is a scare tactic on Perkasa’s end. Many Malays share my views but are being forced into silence because Perkasa is perpetuating a culture of fear,” she added.

courtesy of FMT